AEW star Chris Jericho weighs in on the impact of his gimmick that people "get really mad" at him for

Chris Jericho recently talked about the new gimmick he has adopted, which has fully cemented him as a heel in the eyes of fans. He also talked about its effectiveness in generating heat with the fanbase.

For a while now, Jericho has been trying to act like a "mentor" to Hook, but the former FTW Champion has been giving him the cold shoulder and has not been on the same page as him. This prompted the veteran to take matters into his own hands and physically remind the Cold-Hearted Handsome Devil that he should've just listened to him.

While appearing on the Kevin Karius Show, Chris Jericho explained his new gimmick. He talked about how he had turned heel based on the crowd's reception of his new character. He mentioned that he places great importance on storytelling and that this is what helps draw people in.

“I just started doing this Learning Tree gimmick a few weeks ago. That’s the best thing about wrestling: when people start to get mad at you, you turn into a bad guy, and when people like you, you turn into a good guy. This is the start of this whole new persona as we continue the story. That’s the most important thing about wrestling, the story. The matches are important, but the characters and the storylines are what really draws people into watching you and draws people into following what you’re doing. To me, that’s always been the most important thing.”

Chris Jericho then explained that his character now was simply a "mentor" who was there to impart his knowledge to the younger generation. He also wanted to do this in a way that would make people mad, and he has been successful thus far.

“The teacher. I’ve been doing this for a long time. I thought, what’s a cool way to personify that and make people mad? I’ve been doing this at a high level, I thought, I’ll adopt this persona of being the seasoned vet that teaches the rookies the ways of the game. That’s how it started, and the way we’ve portrayed it, people get really mad at me for it. That’s what you want. By being the seasoned vet who knows everything, that makes people mad at me. That’s wrestling for you.” [H/T WrestleTalk]

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AEW star refuses to align with Chris Jericho

Big Bill (FKA Big Cass) is someone who has already been verbal about wanting to be under The Ocho's mentorship. After assisting him in his recent title defense as FTW Champion, Chris Jericho decided to make Big Bill an official member of the Learning Tree.

His tag team partner Ricky Starks has been seemingly left in the dark amidst all of this. The two had a recent run as Tag Team Champions, which ended in March, and they were also part of the recent tournament to crown the new champions. Big Bill was then next seen wanting to align with Chris Jericho.

On Twitter, a fan wanted Ricky Starks to join the Learning Tree. He immediately turned this down and did not want to hear the idea. He may not be on the same page as his tag team partner.

This situation between the three has yet to be addressed on television, but it seems by this point that Starks may be left without a tag team partner moving forward.